THiNKiNG

Surprises Always In Store For Us All

As the shortest day

of the year approaches,

I seem to be spending most

of each day endlessly thinking.

It is a reflective time of year.

Isn't it interesting how that works?

I mean how the various times and

environments affect us and bring

about innate behaviors?

This has been an exceptional

year in many ways.

Four months later,

I am still basking in the glow of

our New York City Adventure.

So.  That happened.

Scout's had a greatly succesful year.

We started volunteering at the

thrift shop. 

Made new friends.

Began attending the 

homeschool Monday group.

Made new friends.

Started dance.

Made new friends.

After almost two years

here in Austin we are

beginning to feel like it might be home.

Ironically more so since what we

believed to be our sense 

of security dissolved and,

because of that,

we are now at yet another new address.

Lucky for us, we've

got a ridiculous amount of

experience at this particular 

transitional experience.

Even though the settling in process

is slow going - as always -

and despite the unknown landscape

ahead, we seem to find the 

positive much more often than

the negatives realistically allow.

So much for reality.

Which, lately, seems more 

and more unreal.

But that's another topic entirely.

No idea where any day leads, 

but I have a flood of potential

options {or dreams} 

swirling through my head.

Forever, or so it seems,

I have been wanting to pursue too many

creative avenues to list.

I feel like some of them

are about to happen.

Scout is such an inspiration.

I have no idea how many

incredible illustrations she has

completed this year.

She started back at dance

and theater after a three year hiatus.

Applied for two summer programs and

attended the Acting Conservatory in NYC.

Began her American Sign Language Course.

Joined in the Holiday Workshop Show.

Started making dinner one night a week.

And always a thoughtful and 

creative plan researching and

making a new recipe.  

She completed her NaNoWriMo

50,000 word novel.

She did this in the same month we moved!

Now she's about one third of the way

through her next challenge -

the SketchBook Project.

These are just off the top of my head 

with only a spot of morning coffee in my system.

I feel like I have not

accomplished much at all.

But I know I have.

That blog post will

be along soon.

For now, I want to keep thinking ahead.

About which one of my dream*thinks

I will begin pursuing today.

And make it happen.

What thinks are you dreaming of fulfilling?

ox

joon

A Little Idea That Turned Out Sweet

One of my short term storage solutions.
This works incredibly well.
If you have an art room the size of a closet
like I do, you should try this.
I wish I'd thought of it so much sooner.

Isn't it cute, too?

I LoVe finding justification
for my nutty passion
of saving vintage boxes.

Until next time...

ox
joon

PS. BIG NEWS in my next post. Stay tuned. :)

Wherever You GO, There You Are...

Be the Change...

A Fitting Earth Day Project

Here's another recycling solution story.
Two challenges. $1.25 and some ingenuity.
Our tale begins where we always leave off ...
with my hypersensitivity to my environment
and my little brain in overdrive.

It's just not me.

Imagine, if you will, one older mailbox.
Serviceable. Intact. A Little Small for Magazines.
No excuse to replace it.
But I'd rather be greeted back home
to MY home.

On Christmas day, courtesy of our Bear,
we received 3 wonderful magazine subscriptions.
{pretty exciting. It's been years.}
They just started arriving last month.
I did not like that they were folded in half
and crammed into this box.
Now I had another challenge.
So, I asked Evan to help me imagine a simple, thrifty solution.

Inspired by Zuda's handmade boxes,
I was going to construct a cardboard holder.
Easier said than done.
Not being as gifted as her,
this plan remained in the
mulling stages for a few weeks.




Destiny is a Happy Mystery

Then I misplaced my sunglasses.
When I went back to a thrift store to see if I'd left them
on their counter, I came away empty handed.
But as I was walking out
I spied this wire basket for .99.
I was thrilled.
A plan was forming.

Life is like a box of chocolates

A few days later, we walked to the new Walgreens
to buy one of Evan's birthday presents.

On the way home, we stopped by another thrift store
where I spied
this discarded & unlikely to find a home
{it was filled with crayon art}
perfect~for~my~recycled~art
vintage Little Golden Book for 25 cents.

I love cars, tucks, trains, planes & the 1950s era illustrations.
I did not connect the serendipity of
finding this book with
its use for my simmering project.

The trimmed piece

A few days later, I was de-cluttering my growing stash.
I flipped through this book and found this fabulous page.
Just the right size, too.

And can you believe the text?

My stamp collection

I decided to dress up the Magazine Rack Label Space
with a stamp ~ mail collage on
a coordinating piece of the same
safety envelope I used to frame the
mailbox illustration.

A True Mail Collage

Here it is before I laminated it.
It is setting on the reverse of the
mailbox piece.

I had only one TeXaS stamp.

Love it.

My Personalized Mail Center

I laminated both pieces and attached them
using simple rolled scotch tape.
Both the mailbox art and the
magazine rack can follow us
wherever we go
leaving no damage behind.
What will I do with them next?
We shall see.

ox joon

ps. My mailman told me this just gave him the biggest smile.
Putting a little bit of yourself out into the world
can make more of a difference
than you might think.

Fannie Farmer Rejuvenation

Anyone who knows me even a smidgen knows I love thrift shops. Here's a perfect example of a find that keeps me going back for more. It seems impossible that I, a 30+ year cookbook collector, have never run across a perfect~for~me copy of this classic. Well, on second thought, when you consider my criteria, it's not quite as impossible to believe.
There's always more to my stories, isn't there?

Vintage, classic, well loved cookbooks in good condition for a reasonable price are rare. This one was $3.50. The price was right. The cover is sad, but disposable. I use my cookbooks. I don't need the cover. Besides, the book is nice looking on its own. Although I do love that font, and the design, and all the groovy blurbs. sigh....
Wait a minute...

...My trusty paper cutter & scissors and I get to work. Before too long, I have salvaged 10 pieces of the book jacket and prepared them for the next step ~ my laminating machine.

Once laminated and trimmed, they are beautiful, preserved & useful recycled bookmarks for my wonderful new find. And wonderful it is. Check out this page: Watermelon Cocktail. Marmalade Souffle. And my favorite ~ Banana Whip. I don't even have to make any of these to enjoy this treasure.

Look at these graphics. By the way, this is a 1964 copy of the 1959 TENTH EDITION. I couldn't find an available copy on Amazon to compare values. But, as you can see, there is not going to be another one just like mine anyway.

Here they are. Aren't they too wonderful for words? I love it even more now.

I'll let you know how our recipes turn out. If you own this cookbook and have favorites, please share them with me. I'd love to know your Fannie Farmer Cookbook traditions.

ox joon